WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Department of Veterans Affairs has launched a new initiative that
could eliminate the requirement for an in-person medical examination for
some Veterans and shorten the time it takes to process Veterans’
disability compensation claims.

The initiative is called Acceptable Clinical Evidence (ACE). This
initiative was developed by both the Veterans Health Administration
(VHA) and the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) in a joint effort
to provide a Veteran-centric approach for disability examinations. Use
of the ACE process opens the possibility of doing assessments without an
in-person examination when there is sufficient information in the record.

Under ACE practices, a VA medical provider completes a Disability
Benefits Questionnaire (DBQ) by reviewing existing medical evidence.
This evidence can be supplemented with information obtained during a
telephone interview with the Veteran – alleviating the need for some
Veterans to report for an in-person examination.

“ACE is a process improvement that will help us meet our goal to
eliminate the claims backlog and provide more timely benefits to our
Veterans, their families and survivors,” said Undersecretary for
Benefits Allison A. Hickey. “The initiative also saves Veterans the
inconvenience and costs associated with attending a medical examination.”

When a VA medical provider determines VA records already contain
sufficient medical information to provide the needed documentation for
disability rating purposes, the requirement for Veterans to travel to a
medical facility for an examination may be eliminated.

If VA can complete a DBQ by reviewing medical records already on file,
it will use the ACE process. This would then expedite the determination
of disability ratings – in turn eliminating the wait time to schedule
and conduct an exam from the claims process.

During a 15-month pilot test at one VA regional claims processing
office, 38 percent of claims submitted were eligible for ACE.

The ACE initiative is a part of the VBA’s agency-wide Transformation
Plan – a five-year, multifaceted organizational change that is based on
more than 40 personnel, process and technology initiatives designed to
improve claims processing. The goal of the Transformation Plan is to
eliminate the claims backlog and process all claims within 125 days with
98 percent accuracy in 2015.